By Ignatius Igwe

More reactions keep trailing the list of alleged terrorism financiers released by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) as well as the tragic murder of 17 military personnel in Delta State on March 14, 2024. While the military says investigations are ongoing, a former Commander of Operation Safe Haven in Plateau State, Major General Henry Ayoola (retd), described it as an assault on the Nigerian state. He was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme during the week.


Excerpts:

Give us a sense of what happened in Okuama community and within the security circle. There are a lot of talk about the implications, what could have led to the attack and the dynamics of this. For someone like you who has led troops in similar terrain, what came to your mind when you heard the story?

Thank you very much. I will start by commiserating with the families of these gallant officers and soldiers who were gruesomely murdered in a very unusual way in a tragedy. It’s anathema. It’s a terrible thing that shouldn’t have happened at all. I just joined all members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and including those of us who are outside the service to commiserate with the families of the deceased personnel. We pray and trust that God will comfort the bereaved ones and that this kind of thing should never happen to us as a nation again.

I also like to correct the numbers that are being bandied around. The actual number is 17 in total – the commanding officer who is a lieutenant colonel, two majors, one captain and 13 soldiers, making 17. The issue of human lives cannot be something we will be approximating so we need to be correct about it; it is 17 precious lives.

What comes readily to my mind is: it is a sad load for me, for us, for our country to be in this state. I mean, as somebody who has seen the nation and been around the military sector for over 50 years, I asked myself: How did we get here? You know, how did we get here as a nation? When I was commanding Operation Safe Haven, we have had near such disasters before because what has happened over time is that our nation has lost touch with values, with ethics, with character. What we are seeing is a harvest of long-time failure of parental responsibilities, societal responsibility, of nurturing and upbringing. It’s a case that has gone through a cycle where you had parents who perhaps were not properly brought up and now become parents themselves. It’s sure to happen that way because the law of sowing and reaping applies in all situations, nobody beats it. What is done more greatly in one generation will be done in excess in the next. That’s how it works and that’s what we’re seeing. It’s a sorry state for us to be but I think it’s a clarion call for all of us to wake up and begin to address the real issues.

We’ve done a lot of palliatives, dodging the issues and tolerating things that should have been decisively dealt with over the years. It’s not just something that is happening. What we’ve seen is a habit of several years of negligence, several years of padding things that should have been frontally dealt with. And that’s what we’re seeing now, where you have a situation that the level of civil disobedience has escalated to news not even being deterred by the fact that these are uniformed men and should be respected. It’s an assault on the state, it’s an assault on our collective psyche. It’s something that should outrage everyone of us and nobody should make any attempt to play down on it at all. It’s a wakeup call, we should all wake up and smell the coffee and say: ‘This cycle should end here.’ This cycle of bloodletting, this vicious circle of lawlessness at its peak should come to an end here and everybody should come into this fight.

It is so sad, the brazen attack and the killing of men in uniform. The situation, according to those who know, says it’s a matter of a land dispute and you wonder the role of the military in this kind of situation. Has this been the procedure for the military to be called into this kind of civil engagement or what do you think could have been? Is it a normal procedure for the officers to be involved in this kind of situation at night? What could have gone wrong with this?

Let’s look at it realistically, the truth of it is that our nation is not in the normal state. I mean, the fact that virtually every state in the country today has one military operation or the other tells you that we are not in a normal state. If not, then, why do we have operation this, operation that in all the states? It means we have crossed that threshold of what the normal civil enforcement agencies can handle. That’s what it means. We have been the same people putting so much pressure on the Armed Forces and say, even for non-kinetic measures, the soft-power options and all of that.

Of course, the commanding officer would have thought to nip an obviously boiling issue before it escalates. There can be a thousand and one argument as to whether there was a tactical error or not. It doesn’t matter if a mistake was made. That a set of youths somewhere will have the audacity and the recklessness not to even spare people in uniform who have laid down their lives for the benefit of the rest of us? That level of temerity should not be tolerated. That’s my take on it.

One can only imagine if this is not properly managed, a kind of aggression and a kind of reaction that could have come naturally if it’s not well–managed from the military.

When I was on Operation Safe Haven, we held peace palace almost every week because it was clear that this was not just purely a security challenge. And so there was a need to engage different groups of people, different age groups, different ethnic groups, and different religious groups, all in an attempt to find a solution. In Yoruba, there is a proverb that when something is lost, you search for it anyhow. When you are trying to find a solution to very abnormal situations, you cross several lines, you bend backwards, you lower yourself to even, more or less becoming a preacher even though you are in uniform, you do everything because you want a solution. And if the solution is going to come by the softpower method, by the peace approach, why not? we have been too long in this state as a nation. If you imagine the amount of money that have been spent for the various operations that have been on in the country for over 20 years, those kinds of money will have been used to develop our infrastructure. So the military officers are aware of these things. They are not happy being out there doing what ordinarily should have been police work, nobody is happy with that. That’s the reality on the ground.

Let me take you to the terrorism financiers’ list that was released by the authorities which listed about 15 persons and firms alleged to be involved in terror financing and are being listed for sanctions. What do you make of this?

Nigeria has been battling to kill terrorism for over 20 years now from the northeast region. And now we’re seeing some active roles of these terror gangs within the northwest region of the country in the name of banditry.

Now, one of those persons is facing a trial over alleged link to the train attack in Kaduna. Tukur Mamu in this particular situation. What comes to mind when you heard that the Buhari government had said it would release the list of terror financiers but for eight years that never happened.

I think this is one place that we should give a pat on the back to the current government (the Bola Tinubu administration). I was on the edge severally during the last regime. There was lack of national will to deal with this situation at the time. It is good to see a government that is showing a stronger will to deal with these situations. I have said it again and again, that what we have is a political strategic problem masquerading as security challenges. I’ve said that 1001 times. In my analysis of insurgency and terrorism, I’ve talked about eight essays and indeed, one of the essays is what is coming out now – sponsors – because out of the eight essays, all the approaches we have applied in trying to solve the insurgency and terrorism in the country are just about two components of those eight. So adding this third one to it will go a long way because it’s like we’ve been dodging the issue. It’s like we’ve been dodging naming the enemy, naming the adversaries behind this problem. Are we saying that the gates of hell were open suddenly and Nigeria is just having these all-around security challenges coming? Is it that aliens were sent from some abyss to come and attack Nigeria all at the same time?

https://www.channelstv.com/2024/03/24/buhari-lacked-political-will-tinubu-should-be-commended-for-naming-terror-financiers-major-general-ayoola/

Commended for naming fictitious 14 names?

By the way, are there only 15names given to him?
14 out of 47 is less than 33%.
Is 33% commendable to you?

Tinubu can only deceive people at the level of MC Oluomo

Yeye list. The list is inconclusive, fake and unacceptable until they do the needful without excluding the VP.

It's called balls.. Strong one for that matter

derecho:
Commended for naming fictitious 14 names?

By the way, are there only 15names given to him?
14 out of 47 is less than 33%.
Is 33% commendable to you?

Tinubu can only deceive people at the level of MC Oluomo

Must some of you people wail unnecessary? Are those listed your sponsor/benefactors?

Why the mouth foaming?

helinues:


Must some of you people wail unnecessary? Are those listed your sponsor/benefactors?

Why the mouth foaming?

Like i don't know

helinues:


Must some of you people wail unnecessary? Are those listed your sponsor/benefactors?

Why the mouth foaming?

I am happy seeing them display thier hatred for goodnews and obsession to see bad news. It shows how much they are pained. Pain wey blind person normal reasoning wey come believe say them clone somebody somewhere
Is that human redeemable?

Good01:
By Ignatius Igwe

More reactions keep trailing the list of alleged terrorism financiers released by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) as well as the tragic murder of 17 military personnel in Delta State on March 14, 2024. While the military says investigations are ongoing, a former Commander of Operation Safe Haven in Plateau State, Major General Henry Ayoola (retd), described it as an assault on the Nigerian state. He was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme during the week.


Excerpts:

Give us a sense of what happened in Okuama community and within the security circle. There are a lot of talk about the implications, what could have led to the attack and the dynamics of this. For someone like you who has led troops in similar terrain, what came to your mind when you heard the story?

Thank you very much. I will start by commiserating with the families of these gallant officers and soldiers who were gruesomely murdered in a very unusual way in a tragedy. It’s anathema. It’s a terrible thing that shouldn’t have happened at all. I just joined all members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and including those of us who are outside the service to commiserate with the families of the deceased personnel. We pray and trust that God will comfort the bereaved ones and that this kind of thing should never happen to us as a nation again.

I also like to correct the numbers that are being bandied around. The actual number is 17 in total – the commanding officer who is a lieutenant colonel, two majors, one captain and 13 soldiers, making 17. The issue of human lives cannot be something we will be approximating so we need to be correct about it; it is 17 precious lives.

What comes readily to my mind is: it is a sad load for me, for us, for our country to be in this state. I mean, as somebody who has seen the nation and been around the military sector for over 50 years, I asked myself: How did we get here? You know, how did we get here as a nation? When I was commanding Operation Safe Haven, we have had near such disasters before because what has happened over time is that our nation has lost touch with values, with ethics, with character. What we are seeing is a harvest of long-time failure of parental responsibilities, societal responsibility, of nurturing and upbringing. It’s a case that has gone through a cycle where you had parents who perhaps were not properly brought up and now become parents themselves. It’s sure to happen that way because the law of sowing and reaping applies in all situations, nobody beats it. What is done more greatly in one generation will be done in excess in the next. That’s how it works and that’s what we’re seeing. It’s a sorry state for us to be but I think it’s a clarion call for all of us to wake up and begin to address the real issues.

We’ve done a lot of palliatives, dodging the issues and tolerating things that should have been decisively dealt with over the years. It’s not just something that is happening. What we’ve seen is a habit of several years of negligence, several years of padding things that should have been frontally dealt with. And that’s what we’re seeing now, where you have a situation that the level of civil disobedience has escalated to news not even being deterred by the fact that these are uniformed men and should be respected. It’s an assault on the state, it’s an assault on our collective psyche. It’s something that should outrage everyone of us and nobody should make any attempt to play down on it at all. It’s a wakeup call, we should all wake up and smell the coffee and say: ‘This cycle should end here.’ This cycle of bloodletting, this vicious circle of lawlessness at its peak should come to an end here and everybody should come into this fight.

It is so sad, the brazen attack and the killing of men in uniform. The situation, according to those who know, says it’s a matter of a land dispute and you wonder the role of the military in this kind of situation. Has this been the procedure for the military to be called into this kind of civil engagement or what do you think could have been? Is it a normal procedure for the officers to be involved in this kind of situation at night? What could have gone wrong with this?

Let’s look at it realistically, the truth of it is that our nation is not in the normal state. I mean, the fact that virtually every state in the country today has one military operation or the other tells you that we are not in a normal state. If not, then, why do we have operation this, operation that in all the states? It means we have crossed that threshold of what the normal civil enforcement agencies can handle. That’s what it means. We have been the same people putting so much pressure on the Armed Forces and say, even for non-kinetic measures, the soft-power options and all of that.

Of course, the commanding officer would have thought to nip an obviously boiling issue before it escalates. There can be a thousand and one argument as to whether there was a tactical error or not. It doesn’t matter if a mistake was made. That a set of youths somewhere will have the audacity and the recklessness not to even spare people in uniform who have laid down their lives for the benefit of the rest of us? That level of temerity should not be tolerated. That’s my take on it.

One can only imagine if this is not properly managed, a kind of aggression and a kind of reaction that could have come naturally if it’s not well–managed from the military.

When I was on Operation Safe Haven, we held peace palace almost every week because it was clear that this was not just purely a security challenge. And so there was a need to engage different groups of people, different age groups, different ethnic groups, and different religious groups, all in an attempt to find a solution. In Yoruba, there is a proverb that when something is lost, you search for it anyhow. When you are trying to find a solution to very abnormal situations, you cross several lines, you bend backwards, you lower yourself to even, more or less becoming a preacher even though you are in uniform, you do everything because you want a solution. And if the solution is going to come by the softpower method, by the peace approach, why not? we have been too long in this state as a nation. If you imagine the amount of money that have been spent for the various operations that have been on in the country for over 20 years, those kinds of money will have been used to develop our infrastructure. So the military officers are aware of these things. They are not happy being out there doing what ordinarily should have been police work, nobody is happy with that. That’s the reality on the ground.

Let me take you to the terrorism financiers’ list that was released by the authorities which listed about 15 persons and firms alleged to be involved in terror financing and are being listed for sanctions. What do you make of this?

Nigeria has been battling to kill terrorism for over 20 years now from the northeast region. And now we’re seeing some active roles of these terror gangs within the northwest region of the country in the name of banditry.

Now, one of those persons is facing a trial over alleged link to the train attack in Kaduna. Tukur Mamu in this particular situation. What comes to mind when you heard that the Buhari government had said it would release the list of terror financiers but for eight years that never happened.

I think this is one place that we should give a pat on the back to the current government (the Bola Tinubu administration). I was on the edge severally during the last regime. There was lack of national will to deal with this situation at the time. It is good to see a government that is showing a stronger will to deal with these situations. I have said it again and again, that what we have is a political strategic problem masquerading as security challenges. I’ve said that 1001 times. In my analysis of insurgency and terrorism, I’ve talked about eight essays and indeed, one of the essays is what is coming out now – sponsors – because out of the eight essays, all the approaches we have applied in trying to solve the insurgency and terrorism in the country are just about two components of those eight. So adding this third one to it will go a long way because it’s like we’ve been dodging the issue. It’s like we’ve been dodging naming the enemy, naming the adversaries behind this problem. Are we saying that the gates of hell were open suddenly and Nigeria is just having these all-around security challenges coming? Is it that aliens were sent from some abyss to come and attack Nigeria all at the same time?

https://www.channelstv.com/2024/03/24/buhari-lacked-political-will-tinubu-should-be-commended-for-naming-terror-financiers-major-general-ayoola/

Naming them is not enough, if he is serious he should arrest and put them on trial.

jogojogo:

I am happy seeing them display thier hatred for goodnews and o session to see bad news. It shows how much they are pained. Pain wey blind person normal reasoning wey come believe say them clone somebody somewhere
Is that human redeemable?

Do they also experience the pain and hatred on Sundays, Palm Sunday for that matter.

Being an opposition don't mean you should be opposing for not purpose. They are over doing everything

derecho:
Commended for naming fictitious 14 names?

By the way, are there only 15names given to him?
14 out of 47 is less than 33%.
Is 33% commendable to you?

Tinubu can only deceive people at the level of MC Oluomo

Fictitious names yet Gumi reacted that Tukur was there

I know football banters aren't that smart but I guess those in politics sections are worst

Person go dey troll like who no dey follow updates 🤣😭🤣🤣🤣

helinues:


It's called balls.. Strong one for that matter

Tinubu got balls for naming 14 fictitious names

Apart from Tukur, who has been a known negotiator, do you know any other person in that list

M

Ofunaofu:


Tinubu got balls for naming 14 fictitious names

How are the names fictitious? Please explain to us.

Btw, are you happy about this news or sad? Your response would also be appreciated

Those mentioned are not even known

helinues:


How are the names Fictitious? Please explain to us.

Btw, are you happy about this news or sad? Your response would also be appreciated

Apart from Tukur, who has been a known negotiator, do you know any other person in that list

Tukur's name was added to give it some credibility

jkpbestseries:
Those mentioned are not even known

Sebi you have the list of the known terrorist sponsor, oya name them. Na part of helping FG

Ofunaofu:


Apart from Tukur, who has been a known negotiator, do you know any other person in that list

Do you know of any known names that are not mentioned, if yes, do the justification

Again, are you happy about this news or sad? Your response would also be appreciated

DevilsEqual:



Fictitious names yet Gumi reacted that Tukur was there

I know football banters aren't that smart but I guess those in politics sections are worst

Person go dey troll like who no dey follow updates 🤣😭🤣🤣🤣

But how do you try to convince someone who is brain dead?
How can a living brain wallow in an obsession of fake assumption that a sitting president is cloned. I gave up on those creatures longtime ago

helinues:


Do they also experience the pain and hatred on Sundays, Palm Sunday for that matter.

Being an opposition don't mean you should be opposing for not purpose. They are over doing everything

Those guys are irredeemably brain dead. Its confirmed

helinues:


Do you know of any known names that are not mentioned, if yes, do the justification

Again, are you happy about this news or sad? Your response would also be appreciated

I am happy but don't trust this government

They are capable of anything. They are capable of bringing up fictitious names and claim that they are terrorist financiers just to score cheap political points

Ofunaofu:


I am happy but don't trust this government

They are capable of anything. They are capable of bringing up fictitious names and claim that they are terrorist financiers just to score cheap political points

You know that's an assumption which only exist in your head

helinues:


You know that's an assumption which only exist in your head

Do you trust this government?

Ofunaofu:


Do you trust this government?

I don't trust myself

helinues:


I don't trust myself

If don't trust this government, why stick out your neck trying to defend it

Ofunaofu:


If don't trust this government, why stick out your neck trying to defend it

To err is human

helinues:


To err is human

This is not the helinus I used to know.

 Tell me what happened.

Something dramatic must have happened to warrant this sudden change, judging from your antecedent here.

Were you expecting to be compensated for your loyalty, and it wasn't forthcoming?

Ofunaofu:


This is not the helinus I used to know.

 Tell me what happened.

Something dramatic must have happened to warrant this sudden change, judging from your antecedent here.

Were you expecting to be compensated for your loyalty, and it wasn't forthcoming? 

Lol.

There is difference between supporting and having interest. You guys are the supporters of politicians and political party, I only have interest in politics and politicians.

Reason why I can condemn them when they do wrong and praise them when they do the right thing as I am not subjected to them.

You get the point now. The getting paid lyrics na just created thoughts